Teams
Newcastle lined up with a team of Karl Darlow in net; DeAndre Yedlin, Jamaal Lascelles, Ciaran Clark and Paul Dummett in defense; Matt Ritchie, Jack Colback, Jonjo Shelvey and Yoan Gouffran in the middle of the park; with Mo Diame and Aleksander Mitrovic up front. The side contained two changes from the team that beat Derby 1-0 with Lascelles returning in place of Hanley and Colback replacing Hayden.

Paul Lambert fielded a side of Ikeme in goal; Coady, Batth, Stearman and Doherty in defense; Edwards and price in midfield; Weimann, Enobakhare, Helder Costa and Dicko making up the front four in a 4-2-3-1 formation.

First half
Mitrovic was shown a yellow card just 15 minutes into the match after an accumulation of fouls. The incident he was booked for was very harsh on him. Wolves got their first real chance 20 minutes into the match when Costa tried to volley Enobakhare’s cross, but it didn’t trouble Darlow. The home side got another chance when Stearman raced to the near post unmarked at a free-kick but couldn’t connect properly with the loose ball. Mitrovic was lucky not to be sent off when he appeared to stamp on the keeper’s foot after colliding with him and a defender. To me, at least, it looked accidental and he was rightly not shown a second yellow. Newcastle broke the deadlock when Mitrovic tapped the ball into an empty net after Lascelles’ laid the ball off for him. There was some controversy surrounding the goal. Lascelles was in offside position when he passed the ball to Mitrovic. But I believe the goal should’ve stood as the ball came off a Wolves player. Anyway, the traveling side ended the half one nil up.

Second half
There were a few scares around the ground when Edwards hit a powerful header towards goal into the side netting. Wolves had a penalty shout when the ball struck Lascelles on the hand, I’m still not sure if it was a penalty. Ayoze Perez, who had been subbed on just moments earlier, was booked for his language towards the referee. A few more minutes passed before the final whistle was blown and Newcastle were sent back to the top of the table.

My man of the match is Jamaal Lascelles who put in an outstanding performance along with Clark. Dropping the captain for the last match proved beneficial as he looked refreshed compared to his sloppy performance against QPR. Clark also made up for his own goal against QPR, keeping Wolves’ attackers quiet all match. This was a hard fought and scrappy match but, at the end of the day, it’s the three points that matter.